Research proposal
Title: How does working in an intermedial setting explore the creative potential of a
dance artist?
Abstract: This proposal lays out aims and objectives, literature review, methodologies,
anticipated problems and research timetable on the topic of intermediality. The
literature review reflects on how companies have used intermediality in their work
and how new ways of exploring is being represented. The research critically analyses
the broad nature of intermediality and leaves an open representation on using and
creating with media in live performances. The methodology outlines the paradigmatic
framework that will be used in the creative process and what research methods will be
undertaken. The proposal concludes with limitations and problems that may arise and
a structure to how the creative and research process will materialise.
Aims: To create a piece that incorporates film and live performance.
To use my own screen dance film as a tool in the choreographic process.
Objectives:
To work with the company to create movement from the film.
To draw upon choreographic processes that I find useful to create material.
To create a piece that captures my artist idea of joining film and live
performance.
Literature review:
Intermediality is a mix of digital technology and theatre practice that can use film,
television or digital media in a contemporary theatre. (Chapple & Kattenbelt, 2006)
Chapple and Kattenbelt explains in their book, Intermediality in Theatre and
Performance, that the integration of digital technology and other media in a
performance space can create new modes of representation, structuring and
positioning of bodies. (2006) This book contains a number of essays written by
research groups and draws upon the history of intermediality and how the boundaries
between media and theatre can be explored. An essay by Peter M Boenisch titled
‘Choreographing Intermediality in Contemporary Dance Performance’ argues whether
‘intermedialty in contemporary dance performances is located at the point when the
bodies of the dancers intersect with their role as a medium, as opposed to the dancing
bodies inter-acting with technical media machinery.’ (Boenisch, 2006, p. 151) He
explains that media in dance is not a recent discovery but dates back to Merce
Cunningham pioneering intermediality into American dance. (Boenisch, 2006)
Boenisch describes the use of spatial intermedialtiy in Merce Cunningham’s work; even
though there may not be any projected film or light installations, the spatial
arrangement of the dancer and the stage makes it look like a film or tv screen.
‘Although the audience still sits in a traditional arrangement opposite the stage, it is the
stage space that has changed.’ (Boenisch, 2006, p. 158) In a traditional ballet piece,
there is focus on the main dancer who is usually centre stage but Cunningham has
created his pieces so that there are many dancers and movement going on at the same
time so that audience has a choice on where to focus.
Another chapter in this book explains how a company has explored intermediality by
incorporating the audience into the performance. The piece consisted of videos, images
and text relating to ‘Medea’, the only live performer in the space, and relating to world
news. Virtual characters were also projected onto the screens alongside avatar bodies
of the audience. The company wanted to create a ‘hypertextual 3D environment’.
(Shani, 2006, p. 210) The live dancer in the space was able to control what was
projected onto the screen from a computerised wheelchair, where she could re-design
and re-work the visuals.
The International Journal of Performance Arts and Digital Media includes many articles
that explain how companies and artists have combined media and performance that
could inform a choreographers practice and artistic idea. In an article by Helen Bailey,
she has focused on a company, Ersatz Dance that work closely with contemporary
dance and multimedia and explores pre-recorded and live-recorded video within live
performance. Examples of this can be found in Appendix 1 and 2. Through the
exploration and focus of intermediality it has led the company to engage with the
combination of visual technologies in live performances. (Bailey, 2007) In 1998 Ersatz
Dance created a piece, Hyperbolic, that was performance under CCTV cameras then
taken into a live performance where they integrated the footage by projection. (Bailey,
2007) The company later shifted their use of media in performances from video to
digital animation then to engaging with virtual and live self. The company explored the
use of Access Grid as a telematic context which allows a number of technologies to be
shared between groups of people in different locations, in other words it is an
‘advanced videoconferencing’. (Wikipedia) Another company that works with this
intermediality in this way is a university based project between Liverpool John Moores
and Temple university in Philadelphia who videoconference to create and perform
collaboratively.
‘These works have explored the medium of telematics performances
involving live dance performances in networked dance studio… with live
video streamed from a web-cam using the screen projection to connect
us in a unique space beyond our institutions.’ (Brooks, 2010, p. 50)
Pauline Brooks has worked with visual images combined with dance and then has later
moved onto working with telematics choreography and performance. Working with
this type of intemediality, limitations occur for example audio delay and picture
quality. This can be improved by enhanced or more up to date equipment that will
improve the clarity and exploration of the work.
In an article by Mark Crossley, he discusses the relationship between live and digital
media and how in recent years more companies are integrating media into their work.
Crossley discusses pieces by Robert LePage who is one of the world’s leading
practitioners of intermedial work and has described the use of using film in a theatre
performance as laying out a story to the audience and creating a communication
system.
‘If I play in front of an audience in a traditional theatre, the people who
are in the room have seen a lot of films, they’ve seen a lot of television,
they’ve seen rock videos and they are on the net. They are used to having
people telling stories to them in all sorts of ways.’ (Dundjerovic, 2009, p.
51)
‘Seven Streams’ by Robert LePage created a version of this production that used
recorded material and live feed that were projected onto a screen. The performers
interacted with the digital media, as they were present in the space whilst their live
image is projected behind them.
Technology is fast evolving and ever changing that audiences can now be involved into
intermedial performances rather than sitting and watching the media and live
performance happen in front of them. The exploration in intermedial work today is
very vast and there could be no limitations to what can be achieved in the future. An
approach to intermediality can be taken in either a broad or narrow sense but it is up
to the creative company to determine how intermedialty is used. In each of the sources
looked at in this review, many different approaches have been used for intermediality
and there are many more articles in The International Journal of Performance Arts and
Digital Media that explain how other companies have explored the definition of
intermediality. Isabelle Gatt has documented a young company that used a multimedia
piece that explored and experimented with stylistic modes. (Gatt, 2012) There are
other articles that talk about how improvising with technology can explore the
relationships between visual and sonic components. (Millward, 2011) These readings
would be beneficial to this study as they could help with the understanding of the
creative process that occurs when working with intermediality.
Methodology:
‘Research as a process means to search and re-search.’ (Hanstein, 1999, p. 25)
Research is an on-going process that can be explorative, improvisational, interpretative
and experimental. The research method depends on the type of study. Open interviews
and journals would not provide quantitative data such as statistics. Qualitative data
allows the researcher to interpret what they've seen and heard and develop an
understanding. Modes of enquiry are shaped by a particular research paradigm. This
determines the method of approach to the study or question. (Hanstein, 1999) There
are three categories of research that make up a paradigmatic framework. A paradigm is
a collection of beliefs and establishes how someone sees himself or herself to be in a
research study. Hasemen (2006) states that quantitative research embraces a set of
scientific and deductive approaches. A positivist researcher works with quantitative
data and scientific methods that conclude in structured results such as numbers that
can be valid and reliable but may have limitations. A qualitative researcher works with
data that is more open and has fewer boundaries, although it may not be valid and
reliable as quantitative data is, but it can enable the researcher to explore the meaning
and intention behind the findings. Multi-methods used for this can be interviews that
allow the interviewer to ask for elaborations on answers, focus groups and case
studies. ‘Positivist research attempts to prove or disprove a hypothesis, while
postpositivist research attempts to interpret or understand a particular research
context.’ (Green & Stinson, 1999, p. 94) Qualitative research methods focuses on the
perspectives of the participants and the researcher that is one of the differences to
quantitative research that only use the participants’ data. Haseman (2009) states that
performative research practice expresses nonnumeric data in the form of moving
images, music and sound, live and digital media (Multi-method led by practice). This
post-positivist paradigm uses qualitative and quantitative research methods and
practice-led research. A post-positivist researchers tend to use broader investigations
in their methodologies such as asking why, how and finding out the meanings behind
the participants answers. Taking part in open interviews or focus groups allows this
action to happen and the researcher is left with a much more personal collection of
data to analyse. ‘The principal distinction between this third category and the
qualitative and quantitative categories is found in the way it chooses to express its
findings.’ (Haseman, 2006, p. 5)
A choreographer would fall into the performative paradigm as practice is being
undertaken through rehearsals and reflective practice. Hanstein (1999) comments on
how in actual practice, research is often shaped by overlapping or integrating modes of
inquiry. As a choreographer in past studies the only research methods taken were open
interviews via computer documents and film documentation at the end of each
rehearsal. A film log enabled the choreographer to analyse the material and note down
changes that can then be brought alight in the rehearsal process. For further studies
the choreographer has learnt that two research methods alone was not sufficient to
carry out a reflective evaluation. The methods mention by Hasemen below need to
used to help aid a research investigation.
‘Practice-led researchers have used interviews, reflective dislogue
techniques, journals, observation methods, practice trails, personal
experience, and expert and peer review methods to complement and
enrich their work-based practice’ (Haseman, 2006, p. 8)
As a choreographer multi-method research has to be used during a creative process to
discover whether the rehearsals are successful for the dancers and choreographer. To
find this out the choreographer can carry out fortnightly reflective discussions with
their company where in depth thoughts will discover if there are any problems, how
they feel about how the rehearsal process is going and whether they feel comfortable
performing in the piece. Discussions can also take place in the rehearsal time for
instant feedback and for example, relating to this study, the relationship between the
live body and projected image needs to be constantly reviewed and reflected on. This is
a clear example of practice-led research. ‘Performative research represents a move
which holds that practice is the principal research activity- rather than only the
practice of performance- and sees the material outcomes of practice as all-important
representations of research finding in their own right.’ (Haseman, 2006, p. 7) Reflective
practice means learning through experiences and gaining knowledge about the
practice. A choreographer needs to critically evaluate their practice so they can analyse
what has happened in order to gain new understandings and improve the practice.
(Finlay, 2008)
As a choreographer, reflection-in-action will play an important role in the
choreographic process as problems may occur and actions need to be taken to solve
these. While reflecting, new discoveries will emerge whether that’s found from the
choreographer, dancers or an outside peer. When a choreographer tries to solve a
problem that arises during practice, they firstly need to understand why it has
occurred in order to change and solve it. ‘The practitioner’s effort to solve the reframed
problem yields new discoveries which call for new reflection-in-action. The process
spirals through stages of appreciation, action and appreciation.’ (Schon, 1991, p. 132)
This study will involve discovering ideas in every rehearsal so reflection on these
finding will be very important to determine a successful outcome. Schon (1991) states
that a successful solution of a problem leads to maintaining a reflective journey. So a
continual reflective practice will help the choreographer when problems or new
experiences arise.
Working from a visual stimulus allows the choreographer and the company to
experiment, be creative and improvise with the stimuli. Improvising in rehearsals will
be a constant form of research, as the choreographer will be discovering new moments
within the dance.
‘Exploring, trial and error, improvisation and such acts as defining,
refining, elaborating, selecting, rejecting, shaping and reshaping- all
experiences that are familiar to us as dance makers- are the fundamental
processes of the researcher.’ (Hanstein, 1999, p. 24)
A visual stimulus can give a clear intention for the piece from the beginning and can
support the material. ‘Visual stimuli provide freedom for the dance composer in that,
often, the dance stands alone and unaccompanied by the stimuli. However, the dance
should make the origin clear if it is to be an interpretation of it.’ (Smith-Autard, 2010, p.
30) It can provide a strong focus for a performative researcher during the rehearsal
process and for the final outcome.
The final product of the study will result in an intermedial piece that includes film
projected on the screen and in the space alongside live dancers. Through conducting
the literature of the proposal an understanding of how other companies have
experimented with intermediality in dance and the skills learnt from this can now
inform the creative practice in the study. After this study is completed an evaluation
will be submitted in the form of a critical evaluative reflection that will discuss
research methods and identify issues during the rehearsal process.
Word count: 2397
Anticipated problems and limitations
I will have to prepare the basic film footage and digital media before rehearsals start so
my company and I can work from this in the creative process. Working with film can be
unpredictable, as technology cannot always work. There can have problems projecting
the image or timing of film could work one week but not the next. Having access to
equipment may be a problem if tutors are not available to assist. Creating a coherence
between the media and live dancers must always reflected on by myself and tutors as I
would like the audience to understand the connection between the two so if the media
is not working properly this may cause problems. My dancers availability may become
a problem due to other commitments and time of rehearsal. Access to the theatre could
be limited due to other students using the space that could cause a problem if I would
like to experiment with the projector and use of media.
Research timetable
Research Timetable
Wk commencing 4th Nov
Seminar with Fran about research ideas and
composing of question. Gather sources for
literature review and methodologies
Wk commencing 11th Nov
Start research proposal. Start to collect possible
shots for film.
Wk commencing 18th Nov
Continue to work on research proposal
Wk commencing 25th Nov
Hand in draft research proposal
Seminar/lecture/tutorial time
Wk commencing 2nd Dec
Seminar/lecture/tutorial time
Arrange rehearsal time slots with company
Wk commencing 9th Dec
Feedback on draft proposal
Wk commencing 16th Dec
Hand in research proposal (16th dec)
Over Christmas put together a film to start to
create from in January.
Wk commencing 6th Jan 2014
Show dancers film and discuss working with
media. Start to create material from film
Wk commencing 13th Jan
Set tasks and workshops for dancers to discover
raw material
Wk commencing 3rd Feb
Tutorial 2 with Bernard (show material)
Wk commencing 10th & 17th Feb
Project week
Wk commencing 24th Feb
Work and devise from Bernard’s comments. Discuss
music option with dancers.
Wk commencing 3rd Mar
Finalise composition of film and media, continue to
experiment with material
Wk commencing 10th Mar
Set choreographic tasks to experiment with existing
material
Wk commencing 17th Mar
Prepare piece for tutorial. Choose music and discuss
costumes.
Wk commencing 24th Mar
Tutorial 3 with Bernard
Wk commencing 31st Mar
Work on any notes from Bernard. Put piece together
for final outcome
Wk commencing 7th Apr
Improve any areas and continue to work on
material
Wk commencing 20th Jan
Revisit material and experiment with film
Wk commencing 27th Jan
Set phrases in preparation for tutorial
Wk commencing 28th Apr
Revisit piece after 2 weeks off and rehearse final
piece in preparation for show. Finalise music and
costumes with dancers
Wk commencing 5th May
Tech and Dress rehearsal and Level 6 platform (7th8th May)
Appendices
1. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WBSc7xn8hIc- 7/11
2. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mY0czgfE0Vs- 7/11
References
Articles
Bailey, H. (2007). Ersatz dancing: Negotiating the live and mediated in digital
performance practice. International Journal of Performance Arts & Digital Media , 151164.
Brooks, P. (2010). Creating new spaces: Dancing in a telematic world. Internationl
Journal of Performance Arts & Digital Media , 49-60.
Crossley, M. (2012). From LeCompte to Lepage: Student performer engagement with
intermedial practice. International Journal for Peformance Arts & Digital Media , 171188.
Gatt, I. (2012). Devising multimedia theatre with young performers: Documenting the
Marinando Festival's XANDRU U X-XIXA (X&X). International Journal of Performance
Arts and Digital Media , 205-220.
Haseman, B. (2006). A Manifesto for Performative Research. Media International
Australia incorporating Culture and Policy, theme issue "Practice-led Research" , 98-106.
Millward, F. (2011). Visiosonics- Developing moving images in direct response to
sound-improvising with technology. Inernational Journal of Performance Arts and
Digital Media , 171188.
Online Article
Finlay, L. (2008). Reflecting on ‘Reflective practice’. Retrieved Dec 8, 2013, from The
Open University: http://www.open.ac.uk/cetlworkspace/cetlcontent/documents/4bf2b48887459.pdf
Rajewsky, I. O. (2005). Intermediality, Intertextuality, and Remediation: A Literary
Perspective on Intermediality. Retrieved December 5, 2013, from
http://cri.histart.umontreal.ca/cri/fr/intermedialites/p6/pdfs/p6_rajewsky_text.pdf
Books
Boenisch, P. M. (2006). Mediation Unfinished: Choreographing Intermediality in
Contemporary Dance Performance. In F. Chapple, & C. Kattenbelt, Intermediality in
Theatre and Performance (pp. 151-166). New York: Rodopi.
Chapple, F., & Kattenbelt, C. (2006). Intermediality in Theatre and Performance. New
York: Rodopi.
Dundjerovic, A. (2009). Robert LePage. Oxon: Routledge.
Fraleigh, S. H., & Hanstein, P. (1999). Researching Dance. Evolving modes of inquiry.
London: Dance Books.
Green, J., & Stinson, S. (1999). Postpositivist research in dance. In S. H. Fraleigh, & P.
Hanstein, Researching Dance. Evolving modes of inquiry (pp. 94-123). London: Dance
Books Ltd.
Hanstein, P. (1999). From idea to research proposal. In P. Hantein, & S. H. Fraleigh,
Researching Dance. Evolving modes of inquiry (pp. 22-61). Pittsburgh: Pittsburgh Press.
Schon, D. A. (1991). The Reflective Practitioner. How professionals think in action.
Surrey: Ashgate Publishing Ltd.
Shani, H. (2006). Modularity as a guiding principle of theatrical intermediality. In F.
Chapple, & C. Kattenbelt, Intermediality in Theare and Performance (pp. 207-221). New
York: Rodopi .
Smith-Autard, J. M. (2010). Dance Composition. London: Methuen Dance.
Stinson, S. (2006). Research as Choreography. Research in Dance Education , 201-209.
Website
Wikipedia. (n.d.). Retrieved November 7, 2013, from Access Grid:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Access_Grid
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